We don't have an oven at home because it was submerged in flood during typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). You really never know what you have until it's gone. I never had the urge to bake anything while we still had an oven, but now the lack of it makes me want to bake so much!
Last year, my sister bought a mini cupcake/muffin maker from an online deal site. I was skeptic about the quality because of its unknown brand. But we took it on a test drive when we prepared for New Year's Eve dinner. We just used boxed cake mix but the result was impressive. The cupcakes were moist and well-cooked and the machine itself was really easy to use.
By the way, if you're looking for good boxed cake mix I highly recommend the strawberry flavored Super Moist cake mix from Betty Crocker. It smells great and it tastes really good for boxed cake mix.
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| The mini cupcake/muffin maker |
After such a great test run I wanted to try making cupcakes or muffins from scratch. I used the chocolate chip-banana muffin recipe from when I was in Perth and it worked out pretty well on the muffin maker. I overcooked the muffins when I baked them in Perth so I can't fairly compare if they tasted better being baked in an oven or cooked in the muffin maker.
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| Cooling on the rack |
After making the muffins I took the opportunity to use my still unnamed Stikfas toy for a photo shoot!
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| Sneaking up on the muffins |
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| I gotcha! |
He also had some solo shots, just for fun.
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| I'm the king of the world |
Chocolate Chip-Banana Muffins
Makes about 8 large muffins or around 28 mini muffins
| Wet Mixture: | |
| Overrripe bananas | 3 |
| Egg | 2 |
| Milk | 1/4 cup |
| White sugar | 1/2 cup |
| Brown sugar | 1/2 cup |
| Dry Mixture: | |
| Flour | 1 cup |
| Baking soda | 2/3 teaspoon |
| Salt | 2/3 teaspoon |
| Semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark, it's up to you) | 2-3 tablespoons |
- If using an oven, preheat it to 350ºF / 176ºC. If using a cupcake/muffin maker you can plug it in later to preheat it once you're done preparing your batter.
- Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. Make sure to sift the flour to get rid of lumps.
- In a separate bowl, mash bananas using a fork.
- Whisk in the eggs, milk, white sugar, and brown sugar into the mashed bananas.
- Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Whisk all ingredients together until combined well and a smooth and thick batter is formed.
- Finally, fold in the chocolate chips.
- If using an oven, make sure you've lined your muffin pan with paper liners or greased your muffin molds. If using a muffin maker, make sure to preheat it first. Place paper liners into the muffin maker after preheating.
- Pour the batter into your muffin pan or muffin liners about 2/3-full if baking in an oven. If using a muffin maker, fill until just below brim of the muffin mold.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. I didn't time how long the muffins took to cook in the muffin maker. I just kept checking on them every now and then until they looked cooked enough and when the toothpick test comes out clean.
Happy baking!
